State of Emergency Declared by local officials to collect reimbursements

UPDATE: City/County Director John Felton has announced that in a few hours, they will issue an order demanding of closure of all bars and restaurants. 

Local governments are declaring a state of emergency, today, not so much because of any heightened threat from COVID-19, but to assure that cities and counties will be able to collect reimbursement for costs in dealing with the virus from the federal government.

Yellowstone County Commissioners approved the emergency resolution this morning and the cities of Billings and Laurel are expected to follow suit.

KC Williams, Yellowstone County’s Disaster and Emergency Services Director, spoke to city and county department heads Monday morning, recommending courses of action in running their departments, how to deal with the public and to take appropriate precautions to prevent the spread of the disease. The meeting was held in the County Commissioners’ board room where attendees sat in chairs spaced about six feet apart, which is in keeping with the social distancing being recommended by officials.

Williams explained that the city and county government are being asked to declare a state of emergency “so we can tap into the state and federal resources.” “I do not know if the federal government will make it up but if we don’t document expenses it is 100 percent certain we won’t get any reimbursements.”

The federal government has made available $50 billion under the Stafford Act, said Williams, and Montana is in line to receive about $16 million of that funding. Details about how that will be distributed are not yet known.

Williams asked agency and department heads to keep track of all the expenses they incur in dealing with the virus threat, including extra time spent in wiping down public areas or the purchase of extra cleaning supplies. To demonstrate that they are in a state of emergency to state and federal authorities, local agencies will be required to file reports daily.

The opportunity for federal reimbursements for losses only applies to government agencies. Private sector businesses, many of which are suffering loses as events are being cancelled and distribution systems are being disrupted, will not qualify for reimbursement of losses, although Williams suggested that they, too, should keep track and report losses because there might be opportunities at some point in the future.

The first individual in Yellowstone County to test positive for COVID-19 was announced last Friday. The individual is one of six people with positive test results in the state, all of which are believed to have contracted the virus during recent travel outside the state.

As of Monday morning, Governor Steve Bullock ordered all schools in Montana to close for two weeks– March 16-27. The order extends to daycares. There has not been an outbreak of the virus in the schools.

Last week county officials voiced concerns about being short of staffing. Asked how departments were faring this week with parents of children having to deal with the surprise of school closures and perhaps not being able to show up for work, department heads in general said that they are “managing.”

The department heads were advised that they should work with employees who had to stay home with children to determine if they can work remotely and help out even though they are at home.

Williams cautioned everyone not to over react to the situation. He noted, “It was more dangerous for all of us to come to this meeting than is the risk that we will get the virus.”

Questions were also posed about the effectiveness of doing extra cleaning with the coming and going of so many people. It was determined that it would not be very effective and it would be better if people relied upon themselves to be hygienic.

Following the Governor’s declaration of emergency for the state, other measures recommended, to slow the spread of ORVID-19, is to maintain social distancing and to restrict visitations to nursing homes in the state.

One question posed was about the availability of masks, to which they were told there are none – there are none in the nation. They were further advised that if they were helping a patient who is ill the patient should be the one wearing the mask.

It was stressed that “we are public officials and people still need services and they are relying on you.”

Another county employee asked if there was any way to ask citizens to only come to the county offices to conduct business that could not be postponed or cannot be done on line. They were advised that given the public awareness of the situation most people understand the advisability of that approach and no special advisories are needed.

Bill Dutcher of Metra Park reported that the while many events are being cancelled in most cases the promoters or entertainers are working on securing alternative dates later in the year. He said that after June 1 things would get very busy at Metra Park since so many of the events will be held then.

The death toll from the OVID-19 virus in the US (with a population 330 million) is 51, while infections are near 3,000 across 49 states and the District of Columbia.

The worldwide death toll from the coronavirus exceeded 5,000 as of Saturday with the total number of cases rising to more than 140,000 among a world population of over 7 billion people.